0707 一切重大价值和卓越之努力皆是艰难的
你们要进窄门…引到永生，那门是窄的，路是小的，找着的人也少。《马太福音7:13-14》
如果我们要作为耶稣的门徒而生活，我们就必须记住，一切有价值和卓越的努力都是艰难的。基督徒的生活是荣耀的艰难，它的艰难不会让我们灰心丧气或屈服，而是激励我们去克服。我们是否感激耶稣基督奇妙的救恩，到足以为祂的至高而尽我们最大努力的程度——为祂的荣耀而尽心竭力？
神通过耶稣的赎罪，以祂至高无上的恩典来拯救人们，并且「你们立志行事，都是神在你们心里运行，为要成就他的美意。」（腓立比书2:13）。但我们必须在日常实际生活中「作成」救恩（腓立比书2:12）。如果我们只在祂的救赎基础上开始去做祂所吩咐的，那么我们就会发现我们能做到。如果我们失败了，那是因为我们还没有实践神放在我们里面的救恩，但危机将揭示我们是否一直在付诸实践。如果我们顺服神的灵，并在我们的实体生活中实践神通过祂的灵放在我们里面的东西，那么当危机来临时，我们会发现我们自己的本性和神的恩典都会扶持我们。
感谢神，祂确实给了我们困难的事去做！祂的救恩是一件喜乐的事，但这也是需要勇敢、胆量和圣洁。它考验着我们的全部价值。耶稣「使许多儿子得荣耀」（希伯来书 2:10），神不会保护我们不受儿子身份的要求。神的恩典造就了与耶稣基督有着强烈的家庭形象的男人和女人，而不是被娇生惯养的弱者。在现实生活中，耶稣的门徒要过着有价值和卓越的生活，这需要极大的纪律。我们始终需要努力过着有价值和卓越的生活。
来自章伯斯的智慧
信仰的捍卫者倾向于愤愤不平，直到他们学会在主的光中行走。当你学会在主的光中行走时，愤愤不平和纷争是不可能的。《圣经心理学》
0707 All Efforts of Worth and Excellence Are Difficult
Enter by the narrow gate…. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14
If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory?
God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). But we have to “work out” that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.
Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible. —Biblical Psychology